Sonic Trilogy 1: Black Void of Nothing
by Mastah Jasonic
Summary: The first installment of a leftover idea I had for a Sonic film trilogy. In it, Sonic and friends team up to take on Eggman before he can release the entity buried beneath the planet known as Black Hole. But what happens when Eggman's plans are foiled for the worst thus forcing him and Sonic to team up? An alternate game universe timeline set after Sonic Colors.
1. Night Chase

**Hello, guys! This week I am back with the start of a new story in the form of a project I've always wanted to share! So first, let's start with little background about this story:**

Years ago, I longed for a Sonic movie to exist in Hollywood that would be absolutely perfect for both audiences and hardcore fans alike! Originally starting off as something close to that of a Sonic Adventure 3, I later opted for a movie approach as the idea of writing multiple stories for one game seemed a little complicated. So without hesitation, I proceeded to write a big film script, which consisted of many elements from said game including multiple characters and storylines (such as the Chaotix and Silver), an original villain (Black Hole), hardcore fan references, and myself as one of the main characters. The older I got the more I realized even that approach was still quite messy, so I eventually rewrote it with fewer characters, a more solid story, and actual heart to it. Unfortunately, this version never became a fully fledged script of which I had plans to send into Hollywood in hopes that they would make it.

So, instead, here I am writing a fanfiction version of said story in hopes for anyone to read what I consider to be my ideal Sonic movie - completely unlike the upcoming live action/CGI hybrid film I might add. For this version, this story is an alternate continuation of Sonic Colors and is where I would have personally taken the series after said game.

**So, with that lump of text out of the way, I now proudly present to all you casual and hardcore readers alike...**

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**Sonic the Hedgehog: Black Void of Nothing**

On a dark night in Central City, a storm was brewing overhead. Lightning flashed, brightening the sky in a spectacle of light as the clouds collided, producing thunder at a distant magnitude of sound. Anything involving a storm of this significance indicated the presence of evil amongst civilization in the world, and this night was no exception.

While most citizens of the city slept safe and sound in their residential living spaces, alarms were blaring nearby at the Museum of World History. The human night guards scrambled to get to the phone, flashlights in hand, as they rushed through the dark corridors of the museum in pursuit of the intruder. Someone had broken into the museum and stolen one of the most valuable artifacts the curators owned - an artifact of great power that had been abused a number of times by evildoers attacking innocent citizens. The situation was already dire as is.

One night guard had split from the others, rushing to the nearest desk phone, waving his flashlight rapidly as he sprinted down the hall. Everything almost literally flashed before his eyes in what little light he had to look forward with, though thankfully he managed to find the phone and dial nine-one-one, his buttons rushing seamlessly across the keypad as he did so. After a three dial rings, the cops answered.

"Hello, officers!" the night guard began, fear trembling his voice. "Someone broke into the Museum of World History and stole the prized Chaos Emerald! We're in pursuit, but he's escaping fast-"

From above, a noxious gas grenade landed at his feet, setting off and clouding the immediate area in a screen of grey smoke. Without much time to react, the night guard took a whiff of the smoke and immediately fell unconscious, his body lying limp on the floor. From where he stood, a small infantry of seven lean, mechanical silhouettes stepped into the resonating cloud of smoke to examine the area. Each robot bore a gun on their right hands, pointing them all directions to make sure no more conscious night guards remained in sight.

"All clear, sir!" announced one of the robots, their synthy, robotic voices resonating throughout the exhibit-filled hall.

Just then, another silhouette stepped through the clearing smoke, this one a rather large, portly mustached figure donning a black jumpsuit.

"Excellent work, E-30000s!" Dr. Eggman congratulated his robots. "Make sure no one's around to witness my escape!"

"Roger that, sir!" responded another robot, aiming his gun hand elsewhere.

With that, the fat man smirked an evil smile, gripping with him in his gloved hand the shiny, emerald green Chaos Emerald he had stolen from the aforementioned exhibit regarding the history of ancient echidna societies in his world. Once he acquired all seven emeralds, which he was rather close to achieving for a change, he would finally have a chance to wipe out the descendants of all ancient Mobian societies in one fell swoop. He stored that evil thought in the back of his mind and continued to lead his robots toward the fire escape, turning them around a corner before finding the door with a large, resonant "EXIT" sign hanging over it - his fat belly jiggled as he ran, but it was nothing that bothered him (his name was Dr. Eggman after all so he ought to look the part). Soon as he and all robots exited the emergency exit, he greeted his most prized possession, the Eggmobile, with a stroke of its windshield. He then hopped aboard and activated the controls hastily in an effort to outrun his continuing pursuits.

"Eggmobile, get us out of here!" the doctor exclaimed as his hovercraft boosted to life, carrying him into the night sky, his robots following close behind.

There was a sense of eerie calm that followed. It seemed like Eggman had a straight shot at escaping from the city before anyone caught him. Suddenly, a pair of blinding searchlights filled his human eyes with a bright white light, his robots remaining unfazed. What befell upon him was a duo of police choppers, propellers whirling in the night air, demanding him to surrender.

"Don't move! Stay hovering where you are and place your hands up in the air!" a pilot announced through his megaphone. Eggman couldn't have been more frustrated over his impeded escape.

"I don't have time for this!" he said with a growl. "Guard robos, evasive maneuvers!"

The hovering robots complied, scattering different directions on command in an effort to confuse the helicopter pilots. Distracted, the helicopters fired their machine guns in different directions to try and pick off the escaping E-thirty thousands. This opened up a window for Eggman to whip out his specially designed ray gun, opening up its targeting reticle as he prepared to squeeze the trigger. He effortlessly pulled the trigger as the weapon became surrounded with bright pink electrical charges that ultimately fired straight at the nearest set of propellers. The top rotors exploded as the doctor turned to fire at the other chopper's tail rotor, hitting it right on target. With both birds spinning out of control toward the ground, Dr. Eggman was free to fly away into the buildings unscathed with his Chaos Emerald in possession.

"So long, schmucks! With this, I will rule the world!" he boasted soundly, likely waking up the residents with all the ruckus he was causing. And he loved it too. He couldn't have felt more on top of the world from his current position.

From behind him, a blue streak sped by in a blaze of light, catching the doctor off guard and leading him towards a number of assumptions as to what that could be.

"Hmm?" the doctor questioned as he peered over his shoulder.

The blue streak zoomed through the helicopters, extracting the pilots and bringing them to safety atop some buildings nearby. The pilots didn't need to stop it to say thanks since they knew full well what its intentions were. From there, the blue comet-like entity began honing straight toward Eggman fleeing the scene ahead of him.

"Yo, Eggman!" the blue streak mysteriously called out.

"What?!" Eggman exclaimed in return.

The blue streak of a ball slowed down in the air, unfolding itself and revealing it to be a three-foot tall, cartoony blue hedgehog with red and white sneakers, white gloves, and blue spikes protruding straight out of its back.

"Stealing the emeralds again?" the hedgehog asked. "You're everyone's number one crook!"

This was undoubtedly the world's number one hero, Sonic the Hedgehog. This guy spent so many years of causing Eggman enough trouble that he lost count of how many times he lost to the likes of him and his meddlesome Mobian pals. He was no doubt about to steal back the Chaos Emerald from him before he could get away. Without a word, Eggman ignited his Eggmobile into overdrive, escaping further into the taller buildings as Sonic pursued. Once he gained a safe enough distance from the blue blur, the doctor reached to flip his hovercraft's communication switch to reach out to his scattered guard robos.

"Guard robos, I need back up!" he called out through his communicator.

Behind him, Sonic had seamlessly taken a leap over several tall buildings in might pursuit of the doctor he loved to call his enemy. Without him, there would be no reason to save the world on a regular basis. As if that weren't enough, however, his robots showed up in the nick of time, flying straight toward his position with their gun hands ready to fire. Noticing the unmistakable high-pitched buzzing of their jetpacks increasing in volume as they flew closer, Sonic green eyes darted their direction, taking note of the fact that they were about to shoot him down. He wouldn't let that happen under any circumstance.

Long story short, he was just too fast for them.

Soon as the seven E-thirty thousands regrouped, they began to fire a barrage of bullets towards Sonic's position. Acting fast, Sonic spun into a ball and dodged the projectiles as they hit the concrete of the rooftop around him. The robots continued to fire as he leaped into the air, each passing bullet unable to lands even the smallest scratch on his spiny blue head. Like a meteor from outer space, Sonic landed his curled up ball form onto the nearest robot's head, shattering it into pieces that fell to the ground in one fell swoop. The hedgehog streaked two more direct Homing Attacks onto the adjacent robots, destroying them as well. With three of their squad already down, the next four robots joined together to take down their enemy, but Sonic was well out of range to perform any additional attacks for the moment. Thankfully, below him lied the red, well-built Central City Bridge that ran across the river. He would likely lose Eggman in the ensuing confrontation, but it was the only way he could regain his footing and prevent additional robots from running a muck in the city.

With a Downward Stomp, Sonic swooped down onto the bridge's suspended cable that connected the two suspension and began to grind on it as if it were a rail for skateboarding. Sparks emitted from beneath his shoes as the E-thirty thousands continued to fire upon him from above, following him downward as he did so. Soon as he reached the bottom of the cable, Sonic leaped off the rail and delivered a kick to the nearest robot's torso, breaking it apart as he caught its metal head. In the style of a baseball pitcher, Sonic through the robot's head straight at another robot as it shattered before his eyes. He then proceeded to leap off the robot's wreckage to deliver two swift Homing Attacks to his remaining attackers. With all seven robots taken care of, Sonic had a reason to be proud of himself - save for the fact that he had done this a million times before.

Not too shabby if I say so myself, Sonic thought to himself. Now where is that…?

Sonic looked overhead to notice Eggman's hovercraft jet boosters escaping into the night sky overhead; like a streak of light, he then utilized the remaining cable suspension to grind back up to the top of the bridge. Making use of the end of the rail like a ramp, Sonic launched his way up off the rail and honed in on Eggman's hovercraft. The doctor blissfully unaware of his presence, he caught onto the Eggmobile's right wing, his gloved hands dangling on for dear life as he tried to hoist himself up.

"Thought you could escape the cops, huh, Eggman?" Sonic quipped his signature metaphorical humor in the doctor's face.

Eggman turned to the side and looked down to notice his enemy trying to steal back the Chaos Emerald announcing his presence. With that he grabbed a hold of the Eggmobile's control wheel with a bright idea in mind.

"Uh oh! I feel a storm about to rock my boat!" Eggman fired his own humor back at Sonic as the hovercraft rocked back and forth upon Eggman's command. By this point, the wind had picked up; the storm was now imminent as Sonic's spines and Eggman's mustache blew in the wind, signifying their struggle to outmaneuver the other. Unable to get his footing on the Eggmobile's wing, Sonic struggled to hoist himself on top the craft as it tumbled through the air into another cluster of buildings. No doubt citizens were watching from below as the struggle ensued overhead, everyone likely cheering on Sonic whilst also wishing Eggman the biggest death wish he ever had known.

Unbeknownst to Sonic, an even bigger threat was now looming overhead.

A bright light ignited over head as the two combatants looked above to witness what was perhaps the biggest monstrosity the city had ever witnessed: Eggman's ultimate stronghold. The ship's searchlight shone down, flaring into their eyes as Sonic's struggle to reach Eggman ceased; much of the ship was barely visible, with only its monstrous metallic lower half descending through the big storm clouds. Sonic didn't need to see the rest in order to know how big it was.

Down below, many civilians in cars and on foot gasped in horror at the sightly excrescence of a ship above. They knew, without a doubt, that Dr. Eggman was back.

As Eggman ascended toward the the ship's underbelly ready to pick him up, Sonic managed to finally gain some footing on the Eggmobile's wing and Spin Dash toward the Chaos Emerald in Eggman's hand. Before he could finish charging, though, Eggman rocked his mobile one last time in an effort to throw Sonic over the edge. His plan succeeded as Sonic launched himself at Eggman, reaching out his hand for the Emerald and just barely missing as he arched over him back toward the ground. Thankfully, a nearby building stood to give him a decent space to land and so, like a cat, Sonic landed on his feet and turned back to witness Eggman ascend through the ship's underbelly hangar door.

"So long, Sonic!" Eggman turned around to shout at his enemy. "This time, you'll be short too many emeralds to stop me!"

With that, the hangar door shut ever so slowly, enclosing Eggman's hovercraft along with the rest of his machines as the ship boosted off into the stormy sky. Unable to chase Eggman any further for now, Sonic was left in the dust to gripe about the fact that he let him get away once more. But Sonic wasn't the one to gripe; he always found a way to make light of any situation, especially if it involved Eggman.

"Short too many emeralds, huh?" Sonic spoke to himself. "While there's no telling how many he's got, if there's one thing I know it's that I'm always one step ahead of him! Tails said he held onto one of the emeralds from our previous adventures so, if I go to him, we can track down the rest of the emeralds together and collect them before Eggman hatches whatever egg he's planning to hatch!"

Sonic stopped himself short of speeding off, thinking about the fact of the matter as to what happened with them before.

"Although how is it that, after getting sucked into a black hole that he managed to come back so fast?" he thought to himself, recalling the time in the last year where he blew up an amusement park in space by sucking it into a black hole of negative energy. "Eh, doesn't matter! If there's one thing I know, it's that it's always the same thing every time: he has a scheme, I try to stop him, I do stop him, and boom! End of story! Well, I got news for you, Eggman: it's always gonna be that way unless you choose to quit now and show some heart! If you tried working with us, maybe you'll finally see things differently!"

And with that, Sonic sped off into the night, leaving behind a trail of blazing blue in his wake. Little did he know what awaited in store for him. In years past, he saved multiple islands from the threat of Dr. Eggman's animals-turned-robots, stopped gods of water, fire, and darkness from destroying the world, took on various robot look-alikes and alien invasions single handedly with help from his friends and allies by his side. With no doubt this would be any different, Sonic remained confident that nothing would ever stop him from saving the world from the threat of danger no matter the cost. All that mattered was that anything Eggman threw at him stood no match for the likes of him and his awesome friends and that, as long as they stood together like they always do, no one, not even their reputation, could bring them down.

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**Thanks for staying with me throughout this first chapter! I hope that all readers enjoy the rest of this story as I continue to dish it out over the next few months or so!**


	2. En Route to Adabat

The Mystic Ruins were among the most peaceful places to be in the world. Everything about the world seemed to be at a standstill as the jungle sang into the starry night sky; crickets chirped as they sat upon the mossy tree branches lining the jungle whilst various frogs croaked and hopped their way across the lily pads in the pond surrounding a local resident's hut. On top of that, the serene flowing of the stream carried a soothing symphony into the night as it poured down into the roaring waterfall at the bottom of a cliff. The time was early morning so a faint orange glow of the rising sun began to show above the horizon in spite of the stars still being visible in the sky. The entire woodland area was nothing more than nature running its course.

But then along came the hovering sounds of five E-thirty thousands patrolling the area, scaring the various wildlife in the area and forcing them to run away. They shown their searchlights across the forest landscape in avid search of the Chaos Emerald supposedly located nearby. Just about all of Eggman's intel indicated it existed in this location and they weren't about to let their mechanical forms pass it up. They would maintain their "leave no stone unturned" mentality until it was found.

Little did they know that this was home to Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends.

Further into the jungle stood a cliff that with a mine cart passageway, which stood dysfunctional for who knows how long. Where one would have expected to hear no sound, one came pouring in from the other side of the tunnel: a sound that reflected the capacity of a sonic boom, but muffled. The nearby lightning bugs scattered upon hearing the sound as it neared closer to their location; sooner or later, Sonic himself emerged from the tunnel, his speed exploding its way into the ruinous area. As he forwarded along onto the swampy ground, he spotted the river flowing through the forest directly ahead of him. With a flip, he leaped spectacularly over the stream and landed on the other side without setting a foot into the water. He then proceeded to slide underneath a fallen tree that would have otherwise barred his way before rolling into a ball once more to regain his footing on the muddy ground. Just when it looked like he was in the clear, the hedgehog screeched to an agonizing halt soon as he realized a squad of E-thirty thousands were floating in front of him. This, unfortunately, prompted the robots to turn his direction, aiming their guns toward his position.

"There he is! Blast him!" the commanding robot communicated to his fellow comrades.

With a sly smirk on his face, Sonic made like a banana and split from his current standing position, rolling to the side as five lines of gunfire came honing in on his direction. Running into the treeline to his side, he disappeared from the robot's line of sight, confusing them just as planned.

"Sir, where'd he go?" the robot questioned immediately before he became smashed into smithereens by the feet of a blue streak with red sneakers. The robots turned to open fire at will, bearing no idea where the blue blur went before he leaped off one and onto the other, the cannon-like power of his Homing Attacks smashing them into pieces like paper mache. With a skid across the ground, Sonic left the pieces of the robots behind and continued onward, wondering if there were more in sight.

_Eggman's robots… I'd better make sure Tails is okay!_ Sonic thought to himself, thinking about his friend living nearby. Tails was the last person he would ever let get hurt in his entire life so he knew he wasn't about to let him down.

Sonic continued to circumnavigate the forested ruins ahead at top speed - the place once belonged to an ancient race of echidnas so the various ruins and ziggurat temple he passed by were most expected. Even as he blazed by the trees in his way, his green eyes were still sharp enough to make out the smallest of twists and turns through the forest. Soon as he reached a clearing, the hedgehog came to yet another stop to witness the scene ahead of him: a large squadron of E-thirty thousands were surrounding the Tails' Workshop, a rundown grey and orange building of fading colors surrounded by various machines featuring Tails' signature two tails logo on the front above the entrance. The robots had been scattered about through the air in an effort to pick off the defense turrets Tails had recently installed onto the building in case something like this were to happen.

He just loves his machines, don't he? Sonic thought cleverly to himself swiping a finger across his nose.

With a running start, Sonic took off into the firefight taking place, jumping into the air and drilling his ball form through the robots hovering closest to the ground who were too distracted by the guns to really notice him. After picking off the more clueless mechs, Sonic re-positioned onto the top floor balcony of the workshop, the E-thirty thousands turning their attention to him since he was in sight. The began to fire upon him as Sonic leaped into the air, directing their attention away from the building and toward his curling ball form tumbling through the air. With a swift kick, Sonic took out the nearest robot as it cycled its last rounds, sending it flying into another robot and the two collided before falling to the ground. Sonic then grabbed the robot below him and, with an overhead throw, tossed it straight into another one breaking them both. With a downward spiral, Sonic stomped toward the ground, taking out a circle of robots stationed on the ground with the power of his shoes producing a shockwave that shattered them all.

Fed up with all the ruckus, a duo of flying E-thirty thousands activated overhead their grenades they pulled from their hip sockets and chucked them toward the turrets as their gunfire began to die down. The slow, built-up beeping honing in on Sonic's triangular ears, the hedgehog turned to witness the bombs being tossed through the air and immediately charged up a Spin Dash that sent him soaring into the air toward their trajectory. With a simple swipe across the bombs, Sonic sent both grenades flying straight back to their senders and, before they could react, both robots exploded in a shower of sparks and metallic pieces falling toward the ground. Nearby, Sonic watched as the firework show displayed died out with the sound of his feet impacting the ground. The hedgehog couldn't have been more proud of himself.

Sonic then ran to the base of the workshop. "Tails! Are you okay?!" he called out to the one he considered a "younger brother" - whom he still had no idea whether he was inside or away.

Right on cue, the wooden door atop the workshop balcony opened revealing the orange-yellow, and white Kitsune-like fox that was, indeed, Miles "Tails" Prower. The fox looked around for a moment before looking down to witness the blue hedgehog calling out to him from below like a Romeo serenading their Juliet.

"Sonic! You showed up just in time!" Tails exclaimed with a smile on his face.

Almost immediately, Sonic jumped up to the top balcony to talk with his "little bro" face-to-face.

"You know me, never a dull moment!" Sonic boasted, the full moon image reflecting in his eyes.

"True dat!" Tails giggled with a raise of his fist. "What took you so long to get back? I was starting to worry."

"Well, it's a long story…" Sonic trailed off before getting interrupted.

"Before you start, does it involve Eggman?" Tails interrupted to ask of sarcastic curiosity. Just about anything involving his extended absence had to do with Eggman in some way, shape, or form.

"As always, yes it does!" Sonic said closing his fist in affirmation. The hedgehog then went on to recount his nightly run across the United Federation mainland that eventually landed him in Central City. He then told about how he had seen a pair of police helicopters track down a fleeing suspect and followed them until it seemed they needed help most. With enough witty banter and descriptive imagery, Sonic finished his story explaining how Eggman left him in the dust for a change. And that's why Tails was never the one to like being alone. He and Sonic were roommates who shared bunk beds in the top floor bedroom of his workshop every time Sonic needed a place to stay away from the public eye. Even so, he understood Sonic's need for adventuring and investigating strange disturbances in the world and the story was enough to convince him.

"As much as I believe you and everything, I almost find it hard to believe he's back so soon. Wasn't he last sucked into a black hole that spat him out into space?" Tails asked the same question Sonic asked himself.

"That's what I thought too! Knowing him, however, he's got his ways of escaping even the toughest situations we put him through!" Sonic noted while also hypothesizing without much guess.

All at once, their hearing picked up the noise of a person panting deeply nearby prompting them to turn the direction from which it was emanating. To their surprise, they were greeted with the presence of their red echidna friend with clawed boxing gloves, Knuckles the Echidna, who stood clenching his knees apparently out of breath after a previous scuffle. All the more this brought them back to their days of traversing Angel Island and befriending the guy following a misunderstanding they had due to the likes of Eggman.

Speaking of Eggman, Sonic and Tails did not like what he had to say.

"Knuckles! What's up?" Tails asked of concern.

"S'up, Knux? What's happening?" Sonic essentially repeated after him redundantly much to Tails' annoyance.

"...The Master… Emerald!" Knuckles panted through his deep breaths. Had he been running or fighting?

"What?!" Sonic and Tails exclaimed in unison.

After a few seconds, Knuckles caught his breath and resumed talking. "You want the long version or the short version?"

"It doesn't matter," Sonic immediately said his signature motto.

From his hunched position, Knuckles stood up straighter to explain his story. "Well, I was guarding the Master Emerald like I always do when Eggman's robots attacked the altar with an aerial assault. I tried fighting them off, but there were just too many of them for me to reasonably take on. All the more, that gave them a chance set the altar ablaze yet again with their built-in flamethrowers and flame grenades. Long story short, they extracted the Master Emerald all because I was too busy taking them out."

This news came to the annoyance of Sonic and Tails. They all thought Eggman was just too long gone for them to even worry about protecting the Chaos Emeralds and their controller, the Master Emerald, but now here they were discussing the doctor's most elaborate heist yet - and from the shadows nevertheless. "Dude, you really gotta get better at guarding that thing!" Sonic poked fun at him. "Haven't you already spent enough time away from it to hang with us?"

"Hey, I don't see you guarding the Chaos Emeralds like you're supposed to! Why do you think they keep getting scattered around after every use?" Knuckles fired back, genuinely infuriated with Sonic for his insufficient ways in keeping the Chaos Emeralds in check. He could've sworn the Emeralds had minds of their own, but that still wasn't enough for them to keep from falling into the wrong hands.

"Okay, guys, before you get on each other's nerves again, let's make sure we're all on the same page of taking direct action!" Tails intervened knowing that the two were ramping up an argument like they usually do.

Knuckles slumped, somewhat ashamed of his comeback. He knew Sonic had a tendency to joke, but most of the time, they just seemed like insults. "You're right, Tails. I'm sorry," the echidna confessed.

"Good," Tails followed. "Now if there's anything we can agree on, this is definitely Eggman's most elaborate heist yet, correct?"

"Right!" Sonic responded enthusiastically.

"Good news is he hasn't gotten a hold of my Chaos Emerald yet."

"Courtesy of moi, thank you very much!" Sonic pointed to himself.

Knuckles rolled his eyes at Sonic taking credit for something he didn't witness. For all he knew he was rubbing it in his face for being able to take on a bunch of robots that he somehow couldn't.

"So, if we use my Chaos Emerald, we can detect the others, find Eggman, beat him, and win them all back! It's foolproof!" Tails boasted, confident in their ability to wreck Eggman's plan like always.

"Tails, you're a genius!" Sonic complimented him much to Knuckles dismay.

"Hey, I don't see you giving me props for at least trying to defend the Master Emerald!" said Knuckles in an effort to pick a fight.

Sonic turned to his gullible echidna friend, sweat dripping from his forehead in annoyance. "Okay, sheesh! No need to get so uptight about it. You did your best, I'm sure of it! There, is that any better?"

"Since it makes me feel better, yes!"

In that time the two spent bickering at one another, Tails had strolled back inside his upstairs bedroom, traveled to the workbench, and acquired the golden Chaos Emerald he'd been saving for experimentation. All the more, he was very glad Sonic made the effort to defend his life's work by taking out the besieging robots that were so clearly out to steal it for their boss's purpose. In an instant, the golden aura from the Emerald glowed brightly, illuminating their faces with a golden sunrise hue that was all the more fitting for their environment given that the sun was almost up. Even though this was the billionth time they'd seen a Chaos Emerald, the mysterious wonder of the precious gem took their breath away as they stared at it together.

"Good thing the Chaos Emeralds have the power to detect the others via magnetic attraction, don't they?" Tails asked somewhat jokingly. He knew they shared this common knowledge, but with his smart attitude, he liked restating facts.

"You said it, Tails! All aboard the Tornado en route to… wherever it is the Chaos Emerald takes us!" Sonic called out, mimicking the nature of an in-flight captain.

After making a few adjustments to Sonic's signature plane, the Tornado - a biplane they had utilized since their initial adventures on Tails' home island of Westside Island - the gang piled into the transport plane, the Chaos Emerald equipped into the front end console. After the palm trees lowered and the runway raised up from the cliff jutting out near the workshop, Tails ignited the Tornado's engine, rolling it across the runway a few feet for Sonic to hop on top of it. With a pointing of his finger, Sonic pointed the way toward whatever destination the Chaos Emerald had in store for them. Ultimately, the Tornado boosted across the runway until it took off near the end and into the golden sunrise that was beginning to show upon the mountain where they were residing. Hopefully, this wouldn't be the last sunrise they ever saw.

* * *

In an open clearing on the tropical island of the Adabat archipelago, an aging stone shrine surrounded by seven stone pillars stood with its contents in place. Surrounded by grassy brushings and covered with age-old moss and other overgrowths, the place looked to have remained untouched for centuries. On top the pillars sat six of the seven Chaos Emeralds each of varying colors and surrounded by squads of Eggman robots willing to shoot at anything that crossed their boundaries. At the central shrine, the Master Emerald was lowered into place by the claw contraption Eggman had installed into his Eggmobile. Soon as Eggman hit the button that released the Master Emerald from his contraption's claw, the oversized jewel emitted a green pulse of psychic radiation, confirming that it was lodged into place. With the shrine just about complete for the ritual all Eggman needed was one more regular Emerald and then world domination would be within his grasp.

"Yet another brilliant success by the world famous, Dr. Eggman!" the doctor boasted to boost his own ego. "Stealing the Master Emerald would have been the quintessential icing on the cake, but given that we still haven't found that last Chaos Emerald, it was the easiest option we had!"

"You mean business this time with all the breaking into and burning down places you've done, don't you?" his red and black circular robot dubbed "Orbot" asked him excitedly. Something about seeing his boss grow this mad with power made his robot insides giddy.

"I'm glad you're excited, Orbot! Really, this is all apart of the revenge plan I concocted a while ago in case of the amusement park fiasco failing on me (which it did, but who am I to care?)!"

"Decided to go for a smaller scale, didn't you, boss?" asked his yellow cubed-shaped henchman bot, Cubot. He and Orbot were inseparable and were amazed seeing their boss confident for a change. Maybe a little too confident.

"Sure, it may look small on the outside, but, once I unleash it and pull it under my control, it will cause catastrophic chaos on a global scale!" the doctor said holding together his fists before spreading his arms out as far as they could go. The fat man might have never exercised, but sure as well knew how to stretch.

The robots exchange bewildered looks with their expressionless faces. He was known to say stuff like that almost every time, but the results of his scheme varied. "What makes this time so special?" Cubot questioned as if denying his boss's vision of a perfect world.

"You've described just about every ultimate power you've tinkered with using very similar wording. How should we believe this'll be any different?" Orbot followed.

"Because this one carries the powers of space!"

The two robots shot him very shocked expressions with what little facial movements they had as if very intrigued to hear what he had to say.

"Eons ago, the echidna tribe that lived here, the Nocturnus clan, took on a powerful entity rumored to have formerly resided in the far reaches of space. With what ancient tech and Gizoids they had at their disposal, they somehow managed to take down this cosmic entity, casting its remains into the crust of the Earth, only accessible through this shrine here and one other across the world. The ancient prophecies I dug up around this area portray this entity as a world-devouring monster of god-like proportions. The only artifacts strong enough to set this atrocity free are the Chaos Emeralds, which I have gathered in preparation to release it myself. By harnessing its power, I, alone, will crush those miserable rodents and world domination will finally be within my grasp!"

In a typical evil scientist tradition, Eggman finished off his monologue with a hearty evil laugh that echoed off into the distance, scaring away whatever birds dared to set foot in the trees of the thick shrubbery nearby. Unexpectedly, Orbot and Cubot joined in on his comedic evil laugh, catching him off guard, much to his dismay.

"Don't laugh with me, you're ruining it!" the doctor demanded.

"Sorry, boss, we got a little carried away there," Cubot apologized.

"You're just lucky I'm in a good mood today," Eggman said right before a blip on his radar appeared, alerting him with a small beeping sound. "And as if it couldn't get any better, it looks like our dear Chaos Emerald hogs have decided to pay us a visit! Let's send them a little welcoming committee!"

With the flip of a switch, Eggman set his plans in motion as he continued to watch the plane-shaped blip approach his location ever so boldly.

* * *

The clouds breezed by Sonic and co. as the Tornado flew through the warm, sun-filled air that had begun to indicate they were close the tropics. Up until now, the Chaos Emerald had been leading them to the nearest signs of Chaos Energy nearby and the more they flew south, the more the Emerald began to pull strongly in the direction of Adabat. No doubt they were close now.

"The Emerald's sensing a strong reading of Chaos Energy from the continent of Adabat," Tails noted to Sonic and Knuckles behind him. "Guys, I think this might be our stop!"

"Great, then let's roll out the welcoming committee Eggman so formally deserves!" Sonic said as he continued to hold tightly to the handlebar provided for him to stabilize himself in the back.

"And I'll do the honors of tearing his robots apart limb from limb!" Knuckles rejoiced with a swing of his knuckled fist.

"Hey, now, we don't wanna get that gruesome now do we, Knuckles?" Sonic asked jokingly.

"But you know I like punching stuff! I'm just adding more descriptive language to my speech for the sake of sounding tougher!" the echidna retorted, full of himself and his ability to joke around.

"Dude, think of what you're telling the kids here!"

"Who cares what the kids think? I'll go into insane detail about how I…"

Tails shut out Sonic and Knuckles' petty argument by concentrating on the air ahead. He was used to this from them, but as of now they had been travelling all morning and heard it non-stop. The best he could do was simply focus on what he did best and that was soar through the air like the ace he was.

He gripped the control wheel and maneuvered it downward, sending the plane down through the thin lair of white clouds that had previously taken up their view. Upon emerging from the bottom of the clouds, the nearest island of Adabat came into full view, the tropical trees, cliffs, and ruins filling their vision with something that resembled a postcard image. This stopped Sonic and Knuckles' arguing for the most part, yet Tails couldn't foresee it subsiding any sooner. Suddenly, an alarm rang from his plane's radar indicating imminent danger approaching. A red blip appeared on the radar, pinning the location of a mechanical turret beneath them firing upon them with machine gunfire.

"Whoa!" Tails exclaimed as he maneuvered the plane in a loop maneuver to evade the gunfire that shot up passed them.

"Hey, take it easy!" Sonic exclaimed over the ruckus as he had to hold on for dear life to his simple handlebar and nothing more.

Without much notice, an explosion impacted the Tornado's right wing, rocking it violently and causing the plane to dip its trajectory straight into the jungle mainland below.

"HANG ON!" Tails screamed over the sound of the plane spiraling out of control.

The entire gang shouted continuously in unison the further the plane plummeted toward the ground below, Sonic struggling to hang out through the sheer grip of his white gloves while his friends were safely secure in seatbelts. Thankfully, Tails had installed an emergency parachute system into the back of this Tornado model in case something like the current situation ever happened. And so, with a pull of the stick, Tails released the parachute from the rear and the frayed out, allowing them to land and skid into the dirt with less of a force.

With as much dirt that kicked up into the jungle air, a cloud engulfed around where the Tornado had landed, blinding the occupants for a few moments. Thankfully, the dirt cleared up quickly as Sonic coughed and swatted it away.

"Tails, Knuckles! You alright?" the hedgehog asked as he hopped off the Tornado.

From the dust clearing, he could hear and see that his buddies were just as he was, coughing and swatting the dirt cloud away.

"Made it down in one piece!" Knuckles assured him, his thick thumb in and upward position as he got out of his rear seat.

"So much for the Tornado though…" Tails noticed, crestfallen that yet another model of his and Sonic's had bit the dust quite literally. With that the fox set his pilot helmet aside and pushed himself out of the cockpit and grabbed the Chaos Emerald from its console. He then joined Sonic and Knuckles as he stood up next to what wreckage had befallen his prized transportation.

"Something about that sudden gunfire and missiles has Eggman written all over it. Surely, he can't be far!" Sonic stated with a clenched fist.

Knuckles noticed Tails' eyes were locked in a downward position looking passed the Emerald, indicating he was saddened by the loss of yet another Tornado. "Don't worry about the Tornado now, buddy. Right now we gotta search for the Eggman who did it!"

With that, Tails perked up, still upset yet somewhat hopeful he could make him pay for what he did. "Right!"

And just like that, Sonic sped off into the buggy jungle ahead, his allies following close behind. If there was anyone who knew the jungle better than anyone it was Sonic as he had been here before on a previous quest to track down a chain of temples from which he had to restore power to the Emeralds and, with them, the pieces of the planet. And so, Sonic's knowledge of the area ahead proved useful, as Tails and Knuckles struggled to keep up with him through long stretches of jungle, which then lead to a sandy beach surrounded by exotic cliffs beyond which sat pockets of ocean water. Established on the water was a series of ancient ruins carved by an unknown civilization that Sonic remembered had a tendency to collapsed upon being approached. His guess was just as correct as his hunch as the ruins came down toward them, forcing Sonic to push Knuckles and Tails along across the water, which he could naturally run on. Much to his annoyance, neither of his friends possessed this skill like he did so instead, Tails opted to fly with his twin tails operating in a helicopter-like whirl that kept him above ground, and Knuckles gliding above the drink below as if he were one with the wind.

Despite never teaching them enough of his skills, Sonic still appreciated his friends for their resourcefulness.

The further they traversed across the archipelago, the more strange everything became as the islands were rather vacant with not an Eggman robot in sight. The scene couldn't have been more unsettling.

Without a doubt, Sonic was left confused and Knuckles disappointed as neither of them had anything to take their anger out on. Despite his plead to take on Eggman for wrecking his Tornado yet again, Tails remained concentrated on where the Emerald was leading him, shutting out Sonic and Knuckles' silly argument as they began to mess about and chase each other around in the background. From there, Tails was able to sense the Emerald pulling him strongly in the direction ahead of him and so he looked up to notice the white Chaos Emerald sitting on a large stone pedestal. With a gasp, Tails smiled as he felt himself accomplishing something for the first time all day.

"Hey, guys!" he called out to his friends. "I found the Emerald!"

Nothing. Sonic and Knuckles were likely too busy fake fighting each other behind some bushes or something. And so, Tails decided to shrug it off and jog ahead to grab the Emerald off of its residing place. As he approached it, however, his mind began to wander to all the possibilities as to why this was so easy finding a Chaos Emerald out in the open of all places. Was it really just the Emerald making things easy for them? Did it get left behind on their previous quest to recover them? Or was it a trap enacted by Eggman to lure them all away from the real Emeralds nearby?

Whatever the reason, Tails was certain he would find out.

He reached for the emerald and grabbed it in his gloved hand, gripping it tightly as he held it up in the air.

"YES!" the fox exclaimed as his grip apparently tightened to the point of shattering the Emerald into a million pieces. "What?!"

Once the Emerald pieces fell to the ground, suddenly, Tails realized he was standing in the middle of a lasso ringed around his foot; the lasso then picked him up off the ground leaving him dangled by a hidden machine of various colors that then protruded spikes from the grass below. All the while, Tails accidentally dropped the real yellow Chaos Emerald, resulting in it rolling away from him out of reach.

"Whoa!" Tails exclaimed. "Sonic, Knuckles, help!"

Just then, from behind the wide stone pedestal stepped out none other than Dr. Eggman in his traditional red and white jacket with golden buttons and black jumpsuit pants that would give any fat ninja a run for his money. Without hesitation, the doctor laughed evilly in Tails' face over the accomplishment that he somehow managed to capture him of all people.

"To think you, of all people, would be the one to fall for my fake Chaos Emerald trick, Fox Boy!" the doctor taunted, referring to a previous event when Tails pulled the same maneuver on Eggman.

"This isn't funny, Eggman! Let me go!" Tails said, arms and legs flailing in preparation to take him on.

Ignoring him, Eggman bent down to retrieve the Chaos Emerald from where it sat next to the spikes. "Too bad! Finders keepers, losers weepers! And to think I'm the one lucky enough to have brought along my Chaos Energy Radar to detect this!" Tails continued to dangle helplessly as the doctor's Eggmobile summoned from above to pick him up. "Farewell!" Eggman taunted as the mobile ascended into the sky and boosted off into the direction Tails could only assume was where the real Emeralds were located. With the doctor on the loose with his Emerald, he knew only bad things were about to happen no matter if he got down or not.

Thankfully, he didn't have to think on that last part much as Sonic and Knuckles sped up to meet right next to where he dangled from. "Tails, buddy! You okay?"

Without questioning him further, Sonic simply spun toward the rope that held his leg cutting it down with a swipe of his ball form as Knuckles caught him and set him down away from the spikes.

"We heard what sounded like Eggman's voice and decided to stop messing around a bit," Sonic explained.

"You were the one who wanted to mess around in the first place!" Knuckles retorted.

"Okay, guys! Don't fight right now. Eggman is here! He's got our Emerald and I saw him fly this way. Come on!" Tails described quickly with a wave of his hand.

From there, he and the others took off into the trees toward what looked to be a clearing of sorts - the first one they'd seen in a while. Whatever they found on the other side, they would be ready to face no matter what.


	3. The Summoning

***Insert creative phrasing about how this is the part where the main villain gets introduced as well as the team up between Eggman and Sonic* ENJOY!**

* * *

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles followed Eggman towards a clearing in pursuit of the Chaos Emerald he just snatched right out of their hand. Given that he acquired six other Emeralds and the Master Emerald, there was no way in Mobius they would let him have it if it meant causing more damage to the world as he had plenty in years past. No doubt he would end up enacting his "end of the world" scheme a lot sooner than expected if they couldn't stop him fast enough.

Upon reaching the clearing ahead, the area revealed itself to be filled with an entire shrine area consisting of stone pillars upon which the Chaos and Master Emeralds sat. Each of them guarded by infantries of E-thirty thousands, this spelled "end of the world" to the trio of Team Sonic quicker than they could say "Eggman's toast". _Nice job building a natural superweapon,_ Sonic thought snarkily to himself, determined to make quick work of Eggman's handiwork in collecting the Emeralds. As the doctor hovered over to the final Chaos Emerald pillar, however, he caught wind of the hedgehog speeding towards him and willed to call in the one thing that could defend him in times like this.

"Egg Tarantula, keep them busy while I enact the ritual! Web them up and squeeze the life out of them!" Eggman shouted the closer Sonic got to him and his guard robos.

From beyond where Eggman sat hovering in place, an immense arachnid-like robot of jet black, metallic grey, and crimson color scheme hopped out of the treeline, setting itself on top of a pillar-like ruin to scan its horizons. With an spider-like metallic hiss, the AI-controlled Egg Tarantula spotted Sonic running straight for Eggman and leaped into the air, landing immediately in front of the blue blur to bar his way from the doctor. The hedgehog skidded to a halt, the soles of his feet kicking up dust as Tails and Knuckles set foot right behind him.

"Okay, if you're trying to scare me with the design of this one, Eggman, it's working. Now command it to move aside while I speed by and snatch the Chaos Emerald from ya!" Sonic snarked, telegraphing his plan to Eggman who chose to ignore him while the robot did its dirty work.

With a swipe of its two front legs, the Egg Tarantula attacked its attackers prompting Knuckles to jump, Sonic to flip, and Tails fly out of the way. Sonic didn't need to wisecrack to prove to himself and the others around him that Eggman was trying to cause a distraction. With a swipe of his tails, Tails honed in on the robot's leg, but it dealt no damage whatsoever. Whatever the thing's weak point was, they were going to have to figure it out soon. And so, with increased agility Sonic ran the opposite way to see if he could distract the robot, but that didn't stop it from launching a series of web-like substances in his direction. A trail of sticky residue left in Sonic's wake, the Egg Tarantula opened its robotic mouth in preparation to launch another attack when, in the nick of time Knuckles ran up to it and clocked it on the jaw. The impact enough to launch the robot into the air, Knuckles spiraled upward with it only to turn and drill dive the thing toward the ground. With a crash, the robot's metal clanked against the ground, startling any and all nearby birds as they flew away from the trees. Though the robot looked to be incapacitated for a moment, moments later the thing utilized its AI thinking component to move its joints in a way that allowed it to prop itself back up on its metallic spider legs and hiss. Sonic looked back to notice the tarantula as it proceeded to charge toward him making his way to the other side of the altar area.

During the all the commotion in the background, Eggman successfully inserted the Chaos Emerald atop the final pillar, the gravitational pull of the holder at the top locking it into place. "Success!" the doctor shouted with pride, joy, and confidence, this being one of the few times he felt all three emotions at the same time. The ritual setup complete, his robot henchman began clapping in a congratulatory fashion, preferring to say nothing for fear of ruining their boss's big moment. With that settled, the doctor hovered his Eggmobile into place for an aerial view of the altar as all the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emeralds began to light up with a haunting purple glow around them. Ignoring the fight between Sonic's friends and the Egg Tarantula taking place over yonder, Eggman concentrated all his attention toward the dark purple beam shooting up from the central altar where the Master Emerald sat. Suddenly, a shockwave emanated from the altar, the deafening boom and invisible explosion turning everyone's attention to the center.

Having formed together for Knuckles to launch Sonic and Tails toward the Egg Tarantula only for Tails to kick Sonic toward it and deliver a kick that sent it bowling into Eggman's robots standing guard of the pillars, the trio of Team Sonic turned their attention toward the central altar to the sight and sound of a sonic boom emanating from it. The Egg Tarantula completely escaped their attention, the shockwave blowing them all backward toward the forest area, the three of them completely unaware of the robot ramming into a large boulder. No time to worry about the Egg Tarantula splatting against a large boulder, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles struggled to maintain their footing as the wind produced by the sonic boom vowed to push them back and prevent them from witnessing the atrocity at hand.

Without a word, the wind died down, allowing Team Sonic to regain their foothold. Everyone and Eggman stood in awe as a dark purple mist poured from the altar, indicating the presence of the evil entity rising from the Earth's crust. From where they stood, they witnessed a monstrously imposing silhouette of an incomplete monster rising from the mist and taking form into something resembling a cross between a dark titan and a floating minotaur.

"Yes, yes! It's just as the Nocturnus prophecy foretold!" Dr. Eggman boasted from afar. "The evil entity, dubbed 'Black Hole' by the textbooks, is awakening in its current fragmental stasis! Now I just need to make a few calibrations and claim him as my own!"

Eggman proceeded to fiddle with a gadget full of switches, levers, and knobs that Cubot had handed him, tuning into the correct frequency that would allow him to control Black Hole and bend him to his will. Meanwhile, Sonic and the others spotted the gadget in Eggman's hand, prompting Sonic to note the device rather quickly and begin to act on a hedgehog's hunch.

"Something about that device doesn't look too good," Sonic pointed out soon as Tails pulled out his Miles Electric and began to scan for a readout of the frequencies emanating from the creature and Eggman's device.

"One second. I need to get a readout of the situation for a possible solution," Tails responded before he realized that Sonic had already sprinted away to interrupt Eggman's ritual process. "Wait, Sonic! I think that thing Eggman's using is…!"

Before Tails could finish his sentence, Sonic had already leapt into the air, spinning directly toward Eggman. In the blink of an eye, the hedgehog uncurled his ball form momentarily to swipe the remote straight out of Eggman's hand. Landing toward the ground, he resumed his ball form and smashed the remote into a million bits of tech come undone. "Toast!" Sonic exclaimed.

Above him, Eggman lowered his Eggmobile to where Sonic could hear his voice project. "Curse you, Sonic! Not only do you foil my rituals, but you put us all in dangers the moment you decide to be your usual reckless self!"

"Oh yeah? And what's smashing a device gonna do to bring about everything you just predicted with that genius IQ of yours?" Sonic snarked, pointing at Eggman as if he were joking.

At that moment, the entity of Black Hole arose in its incomplete form to utter the first words it spoke in its monotone voice for the first time in presumably a millenia. "Who… Who calls me forth from slumber under the premise that they may control me?!"

"It is I! The gentleman genius Dr. Eggman of Earth!" the doctor proclaimed, hoping to stay on the monster's safe side.

"You!" Black Hole exclaimed ragefully. "You're just the same as the others. Trifling with forces of nature in order to bend my likeness to your will! No matter. If that's what you desire, then I shall retaliate as such!"

From there, Black Hole began waving its invisible hands swirling an aura of dark energy, which he then fanned out into the surrounding area. The darkness struck the remaining E-thirty thousand robots standing guard of the Chaos Emerald pillars, converting the cores lining their torsos from light blue to dark purple. Holding their gun hands in place, the robots began to hover with their jetpacks toward the front of the altar where Sonic stood in a defensive position in front of Eggman sitting in utter shock.

"Please, E-30000s! You wouldn't turn against your creator now would you?" the doctor pleaded despairingly. Despite his evil demeanor, his heart sunk at the possibility of his robots and other things he considered his own to betray him on such a momentous occasion.

One by one, the robots began to raise their gun arms straight toward Sonic and Eggman upon Black Hole's command as the monster waved his hand in a gesture that signaled for attack. All at once, bullets began to burst from their weapons, persuading Sonic to kick it into high gear and dodge every incoming projectile, rolling and leaping along the ground. In the midst of the crossfire, Sonic spin dashed along the ground before shooting himself up at one of the robots, streaking several Homing Attacks across the main few before landing at the base of the altar. Continuing to dodge all incoming fire, Sonic proceeded to Spin Dash toward Black Hole's base form only to get knocked back by a barrier that could only be noticed upon contact.

_That darn hellspawn closed himself off!_ Sonic thought angrily to himself. Unable to engage the evil entity directly or take out every single robot in sight, Sonic retreated toward where his friends were hiding. While retreating, Sonic caught wind of a mysterious voice calling out to him.

"Don't run away! His weakness lies nearby!" the mysterious feminine voice called out from the depths. Ignoring this, Sonic continued to run away without much time to process what was happening.

Meanwhile, Eggman had done his absolute best to maneuver his Eggmobile out of range of his own robot's crossfire. With what little room he had to think with his own bullets whizzing by him, he realized that unleashing an evil entity with Sonic and company close by was risky business as he should have been able to guess what with his genius level IQ to back him up. Even so, the fact that Sonic actually further messed things up by thwarting him would give him all the more a reason to blame the hedgehog for his insolence. He tucked that thought in the back of his mind as he, Orbot and Cubot began to retreat into the treeline with their own robot minions in pursuit.

"Orbot, Cubot, we are leaving!" the doctor shouted his utmost over the blazing gunfire.

"Tails, Knuckles, we gotta make like a banana and split!" Sonic shouted nearby as he ran passed his friends.

Tails and Knuckles proceeded to follow their blue blurry pal into the jungle as they heard a familiar hovering sound zoom towards them. The whole party focused on evading the impending gunfire following close behind them, Sonic and his friends looked over to find Eggman and his goons heading the exact same way they were , the trees behind them began buzzing loudly, signaling them to look behind them and find that a pair of giant buzzsaws sliced right through them like warm butter. The Egg Tarantula had resurfaced from the previous scuffle, determined now more than ever to eradicate its foes (and Dr. Eggman for that matter) under influence of Black Hole matter. In response to the spidery mech catching up to them, Tails gasped in shock and horror, continuing to run away from it as it pursued them. Sonic and Knuckles, however, didn't seem to care.

"Look, pal, I don't care what association you're with! I'm not letting you bite me and turn me into Spider-Hog!" Sonic snarked, making reference to a popular comic book superhero equal to himself. "Come on!"

As if outrunning an army of robots independent from Eggman's control wasn't stressful enough, Sonic spectacularly managed to keep his cool and observe the robot's action of raising its front two legs as it plowed along through the trees. From the holes in its legs came firing a barrage of cyan lasers, which Sonic dodged by spinning out of the way. Tails and Knuckles ducked to avoid getting fried whilst they ran then proceeding to jump as the lasers changed trajectory. Making use of his flying abilities, Tails took off into the air in an effort to distract the robot, effectively turning its attention towards shooting lasers into the sky. After circling through the sky and evading the lasers a bit, Tails then dive bombed the robot, curling into a ball like Sonic in hopes to land a strike on its head. His efforts were successful as the robot then tumbled backward into a tree, but managed to recover swiftly with its multi-legged support system. More furious than before, the Egg Tarantula's red robot eyes glowed brighter as it charged toward Knuckles who looked at the ground, clearly sparking other plans for himself. Kicking up dirt and stones, the echidna burrowed into the ground disappearing out of sight just as the robot spat out another web attack that essentially taped the ground shut. Bewildered, the robot came to a screeching halt only to have its rear end punched into by a pair of twin knuckles claws that turned out to be Knuckles himself.

Proud of himself, Knuckles had managed to punch a hole into the bottom of the Egg Tarantula, sending it toppling over onto its back all while leaving a trail of sparks. Not willing to give up fighting, the robot flipped itself over, converting its front legs once more into buzzsaws and cutting down the trees into its vicinity. Seeing this as an opportunity, Sonic rejoined his echidna friend who tossed him up into the air soon as the Egg Tarantula came honing toward their direction. Experience has taught me that glowing joints are always weak spots! Sonic thought, noting hastily the glowing bright pink joints of the robot's legs. Proceeding to land several Homing Attacks on its left arm, Sonic hit the joint enough times to where his ball form actually managed to severe the buzzsaw attachment. The robot let out a metallic shriek as if writhing in pain before stopping in its tracks.

"What's wrong? Can't catch a break?" Sonic said making an unintentional pun to which he giggled slightly. Instead of standing there, Sonic made use of his resources by speeding over to the buzzsaw, picking it up right as the robot's actively spinning buzzsaw came arching down towards him. In spite of its weight, Sonic managed to hold up the inactive robot cutting tool and clash with the active one, holding it back about as strongly as Knuckles would do to him throwing punches. With enough resistance, Sonic pushed back the spinning blade, dodging its sharpness and throwing his blade at the Egg Tarantula's additional front joint. In a jiffy, he managed to cut off the other front leg before ultimately spinning upward and pounding the blade into the robot's metallic cranium. Right as the hedgehog landed on the ground and turned to walk away, the robot fell with an explosion that could be heard for miles, the orange aura warm against Sonic's back as his friends ran up to meet him.

"Wow, Sonic! That was amazing!" Tails said approaching him raising a high five.

Sonic returned the high five rather enthusiastically. "Just another boss beating per usual!" the hedgehog boasted, not bothering to even thank his friends.

"That was a little close back there, though I'm glad we could get out of it in one piece!" Knuckles rejoiced despite dire circumstances back there.

"And what makes you think you can just walk away from this without consequence?" the voice of Eggman rang from behind them followed by the familiar humming of the Eggmobile - and Orbot and Cubot, of course.

"Who said you get to come along?" asked Knuckles pointing to Eggman.

"Well, seeing as we both have a mutual problem, please allow me to run with you for a change," the doctor pleaded with his most hated enemies.

"You're just looking to get even aren't you, Egghead?" Sonic joked in an effort to lighten their dire situation.

"Even in the most dire situations, you can't seem to take anything I say seriously, can you?!" Eggman questioned his foe, clenching his fist in hatred as he lowered the Eggmobile toward the ground.

"Only on good days can I take you seriously. Why should this be any different?" Sonic retorted.

Trying not to let his anger get the best of him, the doctor hopped off his hovercraft and walked toward the gang with Orbot and Cubot accompanying him. "What's different, Sonic, is the logistics of this situation. Thanks to the Chaos and Master Emeralds, I've unleashed upon the world a primordial being known as "Black Hole". As a scientist, I've done my research; this monster takes orders from no one, choosing instead to wreak havoc upon our world unless tamed at the proper frequency by his 'master'. That conversion device was a natural solution I conjured up to prevent him from attempting to destroy our world, which, you all know is something I'm against based on my various campaigns to conquer it. If it weren't for your insolence, Sonic, this would've been a healthy game of cat and mouse between us two and you three!"

"Do me and Cubot count as four, boss?" Orbot questioned feeling left out.

"Quiet, Orbot! We're talking man-to-hedgehog here!" Eggman commanded, kicking Orbot and causing him to shrink back ashamed of even speaking up.

"Oh, man! I should've listened to you, Tails!" Sonic stated, having realized he jumped the gun by not listening to Tails' readouts on the Miles Electric.

"You think?!" Tails exclaimed.

"I hate to rub it in, but, Sonic, next time I'd go for a well-planned strategy to save the day if I were you," Knuckles added, mentioning his dreams of being a military leader someday.

"I know, I know!" Sonic stated, trying not to feel ashamed. He had never been put on the spot like this before so these emotions he felt were oddly foreign to him. This in mind, he decided to change the subject. "So what we don't know much at the moment? What even is this creature's weakness?"

"Legend has it Black Hole (based on his name) has the potential to consume the universe in a massive void were he to harness enough power. Seeing as he's guarding all the Emeralds using my robots, we'll have to find another way to combat him," Eggman stated sophisticatedly stroking his mustache.

"I can't even get close enough to examine his readings now that he's on high defense," Tails added disappointedly. "If anything, we'd have to rally an army against him if we're to at least deal with your rogue robots effectively."

"As much as I hate to admit it, I think Tails is right! We ought to rally GUN against these goons and take back the planet before he does!" Knuckles said punching the air. His commander side was really starting to show and they still hadn't even met the commander of GUN yet.

"As long as this means we get to do whatever we want with the world when this is over, then, please, count me in!" Eggman said ever so reluctantly. "I'm the only way we can prevent my robots from assisting the end of the world."

"Teaming up with you already feels like the end of the world, Eggman! But, hey if it means we get to help each other out of this heap of a jungle any faster…" Sonic joked, irritated by the fact that bugs were picking at them as they talked.

"As you wish!" Eggman bowed sarcastically.

"In any case, then what do you need us to do first before we rally GUN?"

"Run! Fly! Do whatever!" Eggman exclaimed desperately. "I'm not falling to one of my own robots!"

"Whatever, Egghead!" Sonic called out to his arch nemesis. "Come on we need to get back to the Tornado and…" Sonic caught himself. "Oh, right it was shot down! Wonder who did that?"

"Until we can find an additional transport for extra cover, my Eggmobile is all we have," Eggman noted. "All of us may yet be a bit heavy, but I'm sure we can find a way to make it work."

After a session of fighting and pushing over who gets to sit where, Sonic ultimately decided to cram himself into the main cockpit seat with Eggman whilst Knuckles held onto the wing and Tails flew alongside them. Meanwhile, Orbot and Cubot got their usual treat of sharing the Eggmobile's side compartments with one another. So far, this was an imperfect start to an imperfect team up and, at least according to Sonic, it didn't seem like things would get any better.

* * *

**I hope everyone, favoriters and followers have been enjoying this story so far. If you would be so kind, I would gladly appreciate a review from anybody reading as it really helps me to know what I'm doing right and/or wrong. In the meantime, I hope you all have good days and will be on the lookout for additional stories I plan on publishing concurrently with this one!**


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